Insiders At General Motors Sold US$1.1m In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness
Simply Wall St · 11/13 10:26

In the last year, many General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

View our latest analysis for General Motors

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At General Motors

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Executive VP & CFO Paul Jacobson for US$1.0m worth of shares, at about US$32.60 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of US$26.85. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Paul Jacobson was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

All up, insiders sold more shares in General Motors than they bought, over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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NYSE:GM Insider Trading Volume November 13th 2023

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Does General Motors Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that General Motors insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$80m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About General Motors Insiders?

The fact that there have been no General Motors insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. Our analysis of General Motors insider transactions leaves us cautious. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing General Motors. For example - General Motors has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.